The effect of continuous wound infusion of ropivacaine on postoperative pain after median sternotomy and mediastinal drain in children.

Background: Postoperative pain after median sternotomy is usually treated with i.v. opioids.

Acetaminophen improves analgesia but does not reduce opioid requirement after major spine surgery in children and adolescents.

Study Design: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study to evaluate the effect of intravenously (IV) administered acetaminophen on postoperative pain in children and adolescents undergoing surgery for idiopathic scoliosis or spondylolisthesis.

Objective: To evaluate effectiveness of IV-administered acetaminophen on postoperative analgesia, opioid consumption, and acetaminophen concentrations after major spine surgery in adolescents.

Summary Of Background Data: Scoliosis surgery is associated with severe postoperative pain, most commonly treated with IV-administered opioids.

Diclofenac pharmacokinetic meta-analysis and dose recommendations for surgical pain in children aged 1-12 years.

Background: Diclofenac is an effective, opiate-sparing analgesic for acute pain in children, which is commonly used in pediatric surgical units. Recently, a Cochrane review concluded the major knowledge gap in diclofenac use is dosing information. A pharmacokinetic meta-analysis has been undertaken with the aim of recommending a dose for children aged 1-12 years.

A single-blinded, randomized comparison of laparoscopic versus open hernia repair in children.

Objective: The role of laparoscopic surgery in pediatric inguinal hernia repair is unclear. We aimed to compare day-case laparoscopic hernia repair with open repair.

Methods: A prospective, single-blinded randomized study in children aged 4 months to 16 years with unilateral inguinal hernia was performed.

The air-leak test is not a good predictor of postextubation adverse events in children undergoing cardiac surgery.

Objective: The air-leak test is recommended as a method of assessing the appropriate size of an uncuffed endotracheal tube (ETT) in children. The authors' primary objective was to determine whether the air-leak test would predict adverse events and reintubations after the removal of the ETT in children who have undergone cardiac surgery.

Design: Prospective, observational, clinical study.

Optimally fitted tracheal tubes decrease the probability of postextubation adverse events in children undergoing general anesthesia.

Background: The air leak test is recommended for assessing the appropriate size of an uncuffed tracheal tube (TT) in children. Our objectives were to determine whether there is a certain threshold air leak value beyond which a higher risk for adverse events after removal of TT can be predicted and to define other risk factors related to extubation.

Methods: We enrolled 234 cases ranging from newborn to 9 years of age requiring tracheal intubation for elective or emergency surgery.

The analgesic efficacy of acetaminophen, ketoprofen, or their combination for pediatric surgical patients having soft tissue or orthopedic procedures.

The combined use of acetaminophen and a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug has been shown to provide better postoperative analgesia than either drug alone in several adult studies. However, there are no pediatric studies analyzing similar effects when the currently recommended doses of acetaminophen are used. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled design we randomized 120 children, aged 1-9 yr, undergoing orthopedic or soft tissue surgery, into 3 groups to receive either acetaminophen 60 mg/kg rectally and 40 mg/kg orally, ketoprofen 2 mg/kg IV twice, or the combination of the active drugs.